SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC Has $366,000 Stock Holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 3.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,379 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $366,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. raised its position in CME Group by 30.2% during the fourth quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 2,744 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $637,000 after buying an additional 636 shares during the period. Leo Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 33.6% in the 4th quarter. Leo Wealth LLC now owns 1,572 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $365,000 after purchasing an additional 395 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 54,478 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,651,000 after purchasing an additional 2,529 shares during the period. Appleton Partners Inc. MA increased its stake in CME Group by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA now owns 16,825 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,907,000 after buying an additional 272 shares during the period. Finally, Apollon Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,577 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,921,000 after buying an additional 1,226 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on CME shares. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $301.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $269.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Raymond James raised CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $287.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on CME Group from $223.00 to $211.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $258.20.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $274.24 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $190.70 and a 52 week high of $290.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.01. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $271.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $253.09. The firm has a market cap of $98.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.36, a P/E/G ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.45.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.61 by $0.19. CME Group had a net margin of 57.52% and a return on equity of 13.62%. The business had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.50 EPS. CME Group’s revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.30%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Charles P. Carey sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.56, for a total value of $817,680.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,471,824. This trade represents a 35.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Daniel G. Kaye sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.42, for a total value of $141,210.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,668 shares in the company, valued at $1,035,916.56. This trade represents a 12.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 22,900 shares of company stock valued at $6,147,935. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About CME Group

CME Group Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates contract markets for the trading of futures and options on futures contracts worldwide. It offers futures and options products based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, energy, and metals, as well as fixed income and foreign currency trading services.